Stories of Hope

“It’s strange to say, but I had a fantastic experience. Everyone at Goshen was so congenial, friendly and positive.” – Mike A fortunate journey Mike Drexler from La Porte, Indiana knows most people aren’t euphoric about their cancer treatment. It’s the only way he can describe his experience. Mike’s journey started while he and his wife, Paula, were watching “Wheel …

When my husband first felt the lump in my breast in Feb. 2011, I dismissed it. (Yes, I could be the poster woman for the phrase: Save a Life. Grope your wife!). A normal mammogram a month made me confident it was a typical lump in my fibrocystic breasts. So, I decided to take the reasonable route and wait to …

In a six-month period of time Lloyd suffered two massive heart attacks and was diagnosed with Stage 2 Rectal Cancer. Six weeks after his second heart surgery he had part of his colon removed. Throughout it all Lloyd remained positive, and the staff at Goshen Center for Cancer Care encouraged his outlook. My doctor told me, “We’re not just going …

Toyce has always felt that life is precious. In fact she signs her emails ‘Carpe Diem,’ Latin for seize the day. She got mammograms regularly, but when she felt something unusual she went to Goshen Retreat Women’s Health Center. When the diagnosis came back as Stage III Breast Cancer and Cancer of the Lymph Nodes she never questioned going anywhere …

What can I say? Wasn’t it my journey through cancer? Certainly, I was the one with the diagnosis of breast cancer. I was the one undergoing the biopsies and then the double mastectomy, the reconstructive surgery and chemotherapy. But in spite of all that, it was our journey. My cancer diagnosis affected the lives of all my family and my friends. It wasn’t a …

It was just another ordinary trip to the doctor’s office. It was time for my annual physical which included a PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) test to screen for prostate cancer. Dr. Borrelli told me the levels from my test were too high, and he suspected prostate cancer. He sent me to an urologist for a biopsy, who confirmed his suspicion. …

One day in April five years ago was like any other day. Putting lotion on my face I felt a lump in my left cheek. My husband Dennis felt it too. A routine doctor’s appointment the next week confirmed it was a cyst but I needed to see a plastic surgeon for removal. The plastic surgeon agreed it was a cyst …

Never give up It was a typical day, February 21, 2007, but it didn’t remain that way. I took Edna, my wife, to her doctor in Kendallville for a routine visit. Before I knew it, I was the patient. I had been taking Prevacid for abdominal pain, but it wasn’t helping and the pain was getting worse. I was sent …

My start with stage 3 squamous cell lung cancer wasn’t very pleasant. Since childhood, I had a history of pneumonia. So when I had back pain and started coughing, I figured I had pneumonia again. I went to my doctor and he gave me a prescription that worked for a week or so. Then the coughing and pain came back. …

I’m not special. Many of us have been on this journey. Cancer is all around us, different types, different outcomes, but a word that puts fear into the hearts of all it touches. A cancer diagnosis does not make life un-certain, it just reminds us of the fact that no one has any more time than this moment right now. …